Sunday, June 14, 2009

It's Daring Cooks time again! Remember last month when I leapt out of my comfort zone and made Ricotta Gnocchi? This month's challenge was potstickers (some people steamed them and made dumplings. Potstickers are pan-fried. Now I know the difference!). This challenge was hosted by the incredibly wise and talented Jen of Use Real Butter.

I'm not even going to attempt to share the recipe with you. If you'd like to take a stab at these (and if I can do it, I KNOW you can), go here. Look at Jen's stunning photography and detailed explanations. That's all you need. I will, however, share with you the 3 varieties of potstickers that I lovingly spent a whole day making.

First, I modified Jen's basic pork recipe. We don't eat pork, so I used ground turkey instead. Also, there's a mushroom hater in our house (it isn't me...just sayin'!), so I omitted the shiitakes and threw in some water chestnuts instead. I also used chinese chives in place of green onion. These tasted very similar to the traditional pork variety that I've tried in the distant past.

Next up, kimchee potstickers. Our favorite little Vietnamese restaurant serves these and we eat them at least weekly. Mine didn't quite come out as well theirs (I think the kimchee I used was much more pungent), but I'm glad I attempted it!

Finally, my dessert masterpiece: blueberry potstickers! I used the filling recipe from Shelby's birthday tart since it's really thick. Wow. These reminded me a lot of blueberry blintzes, except that they were little and cute and pleated and I made them from scratch.

I can't say enough about how delicious all 3 varieties were. I followed Jen's dipping sauce instructions to use with the savory potstickers, and we just ate the blueberry ones plain. I'm going to get all social work-y for a sec (I don't do that too often here), and say that this challenge made me feel empowered. Every time I do something that I think is far beyond my skill level, I get a little closer to feeling like I know what I'm doing in the kitchen. I like that... it's pretty exhilarating. Can't wait to see what's next.

Oh! And I finally decided to join the Daring Bakers too (who was I kidding? My true love is baking), so stay tuned!

32 comments:

I'm so glad you're joining Daring Bakers!!! And these all look so amazing. And I'm totally with you on the empowerment thing... it's an incredible feeling. And CRAAAAAAAPPPPPPPP a skunk just did its thing outside my window.

Lovve all the three types you did I can't decide which I like better. Great that you are joining the DBakers also. Great Pixs and your happpy spirit shines through in this post. bravo bravo and kudos. Cheers from Audax

Yay for you! I love your variations on the dumplings and I am totally impressed how you whipped them up - like a pro. That's the spirit of Chinese cooking, to go by feel. You did a bang up job there, chica. They're lovely to boot. Good on ya and congrats! Looking forward to seeing you on the DB side as well :)

Oh, man, these look good! I am a big fan of potstickers, but they seemed like something that would be hard to make at home so I usually stick with a bag of frozen chicken potstickers from Trader Joe's. Maybe I'll have to try these :)

Hi Amy! I was wondering, in using the ground turkey, did you find that there was enough fat to make them flavorful and that they didn't burn? My husband and I want to try them but I don't eat pork... but we've read that you need the higher fat content to gather the same taste and such.